LOS ANGELES — It was a simple question, and Lou Williams had a simple answer Saturday.

Did he think he deserved to be named the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year?

“Yes,” Williams said.

Simple as that?

“First player off the bench to lead his team in scoring and assists, have an opportunity to be in the All-Star talks and just forced to be competitive with the way everything went,” he added. “Just honestly speaking, I had a lot to do with it. I’ve seen guys win awards just based on the numbers with their teams not being successful, so with the history being made, I think so.”

The numbers would appear to be on Williams’ side.

After all, he leads the Clippers with averages of 22.6 points and 5.3 assists, which also are career highs. His scoring average of 22.5 points while coming off the bench is the highest of any reserve in the past 25 years. He’s the only player in NBA history to average 20 and 5 as a backup.

“I just got used to it after a while,” he said of the added workload. “It just became my make-up. It just became what was needed. We had the next man up mentality, and it worked for us for a while. At the end, when a lot of these teams buckled down, I just think somewhat mentally, we didn’t match up.”

TEODOSIC UPDATE

Two plantar fascia injuries to his left foot, one at the start of his rookie season and one near the end, limited Teodosic to only 45 games after he signed with the Clippers last summer after many years of standout play in Europe, including the last six with CSKA Moscow.

Despite the injuries, despite the higher level of play, the 31-year-old Teodosic fit in well.

“I thought he was terrific,” Coach Doc Rivers said. “His shot was up and down, but you could see at the end he was really starting to get his legs under him and making shots. His passing is contagious. When he doesn’t play in games, we miss that. You miss the ball movement.

“He makes you want to pass the ball.”

Teodosic averaged 9.5 points, 2.8 rebounds and 4.6 assists.

“It’s always good to have a guy like that on your team,” Rivers said. “I don’t know if he thought he would come in and be a superstar in this league, but he was so much better than a rookie. You can see that. I think if he decides to play more in the NBA, he’ll be even better.”

Teodosic signed a two-season, $12.6 million contract, with a player’s option for next season.

“He is as smart and clever as any player I’ve ever coached,” Rivers said.

MILESTONE UPDATES

DeAndre Jordan made seven field goals in Saturday’s loss to the Nuggets and moved past Danny Manning into sixth place on the Clippers’ all-time list with 2,853. Also, by scoring 16 points and grabbing 17 rebounds, he moved within one of Elton Brand’s club record of 265 double-doubles.

Elliott Teaford covers the Anaheim Ducks for the Orange County Register and the Southern California News Group. He covered the Ducks for 12 years, including the Stanley Cup season, for the Los Angeles Times and the Daily Breeze before returning to the beat in 2018 for SCNG. He also covered the Lakers for five seasons, including their back-to-back NBA championships in 2009 and '10. He once made a jump shot over future Utah Jazz center Mark Eaton during a pickup game in 1980 at Cypress College.